color guard captains make the most of senior year

that the pandemic would blow over and that they would have a normal marching season. They had started to plan around the restrictions by meeting over Zoom and submitting videos, but that didn’t last long. The marching season was canceled and people were left at home with flags, instruments, and no motivation. The two would think I should practice a little to make sure my skills are staying strong, but just like everyone else, they couldn’t find the motivation.

“I had the flags in the corner of my room, and they sat there probably the entire time,” Garrity said.

At the start of their junior year season, the Marching Red Raiders were back with new staff, a new show designer, and a lot of new members who did not know much. For color guard, their season starts in February with their clinics and lasts up to late October.

“I was really excited, but I was also overwhelmed because a whole year of not doing a lot of guard, and then you come back knowing that I am now a veteran member of the color guard and I’m gonna be expected to teach things to other people,” Balmes said.

In their junior year, they really did find that leadership that was given to them by seniority. The former color guard captains from the 2021 marching season, Katie Walz and Allison Apmann, saw them grow from scared freshmen to juniors who plan to be captains. “I was working with them and I saw amazing improvement. They were showing leadership and if Katie and I were working with other girls they would always be there to step up,” former captain Allison Apmann said.

Ending their junior year season with amazing progress , they were ready to keep that ball rolling for their senior year.

“They’ve done a really good job and just even just the amount of growth that not just from last year but this year alone with them being captains has been great to see them come out of their shells and like take that leadership position and just thrive with it,” color guard Coach Amanda Hacker said.

At the start of their last season, they were nervous of what leadership role they would have to fulfill. At their first color guard clinics, they had plenty of new members to show the ropes to. Their struggle was wanting the team to not be intimidated by them. They wanted their team to treat each other as friends that they can come up and talk to.

“If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think we would have had as good as the season as we did,” freshman Kaelyn Keegan said. “Like I said, if it wasn’t,

we wouldn’t have gotten like anything done.”

Throughout the season Balmes and Garrity had truly grown into their roles. They had confidence in what they were doing and if they didn’t they faked it till they made it, which they did. The 2022 marching season the band was awarded best auxiliary, best color guard, which is a major accomplishment since Huntley had not been awarded that since 2013 with their show “Stained Glass.”

“We both just looked at each other and we’re like, oh my gosh, we made it like we did it. It was just so amazing, and we couldn’t have done it without every single person on guard because it really is a team effort and like everyone put in so much work,” Balmes said.

Yet during the last leg of their season Coach Hacker had to take a step back and Molly and Norah took a step forward.

“It’s been a relief in my eyes, just because it’s been really hard to be able to take that step back and something that I absolutely love,” Hacker said.

As the team grew closer and closer together their season grew closer to an end. The two best friends had gone through the entry of high school together, attending the color guard clinics, and to bowing at senior night. They were in it together.

Balmes and Garrity are color guard captains

If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think we would have had as good as the season as we did Kaelyn Keegan

For the past few years, Huntley High School has set apart a specific schedule for schoolwide lessons: Raider Way Lessons. These lessons take place during 30 minutes of the extended time during everyone’s third period.

During this time, teachers are expected to follow specific lesson plans and students are obligated to remain in the building. Off-campus privileges are temporarily halted and self-guided study hall students report to the cafeteria to be given the lesson.

Normal school activities are stopped while everyone receives the Raider Way Lesson for that day. Whether it’s about mental health, upcoming state testing or preparing for life after high school, Raider Way Lessons have always seemed to be a staple at HHS.

However, should the lessons continue in the way they are currently structured?

The majority of lessons are held in a small classroom setting with some form of presentation going up on the local projector which can lead to students to be less focused.

With many lessons being taught in a video format, students are easily distracted. Some lessons do, however, invite a more interactive platform, such as the recent SchoolLinks lesson that encouraged students to fill out personality tests and career quizzes.

According to principal Marcus Belin, the high school is trying to put out a minimum of one to two lessons a month. This includes the state-mandated lessons, which are videos about Erin’s Law for sexual abuse awareness and Ann Marie’s Law for suicide awareness.

Some question whether all lessons have to be targeted toward the whole school such as ones about the SAT, when seniors have already taken it.

Because of the student tendency to get distracted during the smallclass presentations, the idea of doing an assembly is an attractive option. At the beginning of the year, each class received an assembly in the central gym, where students could better pay attention to the topic at hand.

“[As for assemblies in the Performing Arts Center,] right now we can’t, because we have 619 seats. Our smallest class is close to 700 [students,]” Belin said.

The classes are simply too large to do any kind of lesson inside the PAC itself, making the gyms a more viable choice.

But in order to do these lessons in the central gym, which is easier to access and allows all students to get to their classes, they must do one grade level at a time. This can be hard to manage when planning the changes for third hour teachers.

“I’m trying to think in the most logical way that meets the needs of almost 200 teachers,” Belin said.

New approach to

Raider Way Lessons would increase understanding

Even so, the assembly setting is not for everyone. Special education teachers are given the same Raider Way Lesson plan as everyone else and must curate the lesson to best fit their students’ needs.

“Speaking from experience of being in more of a contained class setting, sometimes the content is a little too deep or maybe challenging for them to relate to,” special education teacher Shannon Vanek said. “It’s not always as relevant for them.”

Finding a way to adapt hard topics to every student’s needs is extremely difficult given that our school is made up of around 3,000 students.

What is the solution?

Belin made an interesting proposal about having an advisory setting where students would meet in smaller groups with a faculty member.

Belin discovered the idea at Maine Township High School of District 207. It

would allow for a different learning setting and a way for more faculty to be involved in students’ lives. According to associate principal Danyce Letkewicz, the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports team meets with the administration to talk about topics they would like addressed in Raider Way Lessons. Recently, some topics discussed include mental health, which are no longer frequently touched upon in physical education classes. On Raider Way Lesson this semester had the school talking about mental health awareness, a step Restructuring Raider Way in the right direction, but often students need more of a push to be part of a focused conversation. “It’s connecting them with the right resources based on what it is that they’re experiencing,” Letkewicz said. “Once they can sit down and connect with somebody in the building, then we can really tailor and customize what our recommendations are, point them in direction, [and] connect them to other outside resources.” The advisory structure could be the format that allows students to meet in smaller groups and be able to take in the information in a more efficient way. Advisories could be held during the normal Raider Way Lesson times and could follow a similar lesson plan. In order to move forward and enhance the idea of Raider Way, a new structure is needed. With its stricter format and opportunities for one-on-one discussion, an advisory is the best option for schoolwide lessons. S. Webb